A FLAGSHIP early years education policy designed to raise the bar in Wales is starting to bear fruit, according to the nation’s inspectorate.

Estyn said the Foundation Phase is having a positive impact on the wellbeing of children and in the majority of primary schools, pupils are achieving well.

The radical new programme is still in its infancy though the early signs are good, an evaluation of participating schools found.

Where it has been rolled out successfully, the Foundation Phase provides a “varied, productive and motivating” environment for children to develop their key skills.

And crucially, after many years’ bemoaning the gender gulf, Estyn said the initiative was having a positive effect on boys who benefit from a more active approach to learning.

“In the majority of schools, practitioners have adapted their classroom practice well to reflect the learning and teaching approaches of the Foundation Phase,” said the inspectorate.

“Implementation has been at its most successful where practitioners and leaders have a sound understanding of its principles and pedagogy and high expectations of what children can do. The best schools maintain a strong focus on raising standards of literacy and use the Foundation Phase to provide exciting new learning opportunities to help children improve their reading and writing skills.”

But the Foundation Phase, which encourages learning through play, has split opinion and some staff are not convinced about its educational value.

Estyn found that children in up to 40% of schools administering the initiative are not learning as much as they should be.

In a minority of cases, it believes children are not offered challenging enough opportunities to develop and practice their key skills.

Estyn’s report states: “In a minority of schools, there are weaknesses in the implementation of the Foundation Phase. In these schools, there is usually a lack of understanding of the principles and practice promoted by the Foundation Phase, which leads to weaknesses in learning and teaching, and in planning.

“While the Foundation Phase in nearly all schools provides rich contexts and motivating opportunities for writing, the range and quality of children’s written work in many schools is often limited because writing tasks are formulaic and undemanding.

“In a few schools, practitioners and leaders do not know enough about the Foundation Phase to ensure that its implementation is effective or they are unconvinced about its educational value.”

Anna Brychan, director of the National Association of Head Teachers Cymru, said the admission was a surprise and maintained that all school leaders fully support the programme.

She said the issue may lie with the consistency of teacher training, and whether or not school staff are able to attend demonstrations as regularly as they would like.

“Some concern has been expressed by members that the training hasn’t always been as good as it might be and if that’s showing in the lack of understanding of the principles, then it needs to be looked at urgently,” she said.

“There’s a lot riding on this and so far the signs are very positive. Our members have seen in their schools the effect the Foundation Phase is having. But we must ensure everybody who needs to go to the training, goes to the training.”

She added: “The fact that our inspectorate has found that children are happier and more engaged with learning thanks to the Foundation Phase is extremely good news. Research suggests that most of the children now in the Foundation Phase will eventually work in jobs that don’t yet exist and will have to change direction several times during the course of their working lives. The Foundation Phase helps create learners who are ready for that challenge.”

The flagship Foundation Phase – hailed by former First Minister Rhodri Morgan as his proudest achievement in government – is considered one of the jewels in the Welsh crown.

And after a series of damning reports into the state of education in Wales, sector leaders will be hopeful that the radical new policy bears fruit.

The programme, first introduced in 2008, became fully operational across all early-years age groups last week.

Its focus is on developing learning actively rather than simply transferring facts and involves using play-based approaches to develop children’s thinking.

Teachers have to monitor progression, through careful observation and assessment in all areas of learning, to plan the next stage of their development.

In the vast majority of schools, staff have adapted their classroom practice to reflect the learning and teaching approaches of the Foundation Phase.

Ann Keane, chief inspector of education and training in Wales, said: “Although we do not yet have assessed outcomes to judge the overall impact of this approach to learning, there is evidence to show that the Foundation Phase is having a positive impact on both the wellbeing and achievement of primary school children. Generally, children are more motivated and engaged in learning.

“A clear understanding of the Foundation Phase, effective planning and regular assessment are all vital to the success of the Foundation Phase. In the best schools, teachers and practitioners have developed challenging and creative activities aimed at developing children’s reading and writing skills. They have high expectations and maintain a strong focus on raising standards of literacy.”

Professor David Egan, a former government advisor who helped develop the Foundation Phase, said the report was encouraging but there remains room for improvement.

“The introduction of the Foundation Phase has probably been the major change affecting schools in Wales over the last five years and there is general agreement that it represents one of the most important building blocks for the high-achieving education system that Wales so strongly desires,” he said.

“There has always been a strong view that the Foundation Phase will ultimately be as good as the professional practice of the teachers and support staff who introduce it to children. The report suggests that there is still much to do in this respect.”

Dr Philip Dixon, director of ATL Cymru, said the location and size of under-performing schools was worth further investigation.

“That sort of information could help form a judgment as to why certain schools seem to be doing better than others,” he said.

“We can’t be precious about this – it is the responsibility of headteachers to learn from the best in their field. Teachers engaged in the Foundation Phase are overwhelmingly enthusiastic about the benefits it brings to children’s learning.”

He added: “Given that this is such a step-change for education, the difficulties the report outlines are to be expected. What we need to ensure now is that schools and local authorities that have faltered a little in their implementation learn from the best about how to ‘do’ the Foundation Phase effectively.”

A spokesman for the Welsh Government said: “It is encouraging that Estyn has found that the Foundation Phase is having a positive impact on the wellbeing of children.

“We are proud of the fact that the Foundation Phase is providing a varied, productive and motivating environment for children to thrive, with boys in particular benefiting from more active learning.

“However, it is a concern that Estyn have identified a minority of schools where children are not being offered challenging enough opportunities to develop and practice their reading and writing skills. This is clearly not acceptable.

“We have repeatedly made clear that the Foundation Phase’s concept of learning by doing should not in any way lead to a relaxation in standards, especially literacy. The [education] minister has been very frank about the need for standards in Wales to improve and has made literacy and numeracy a priority.

“We will now work closely with Estyn to analyse their findings and identify why standards in these schools were not up to scratch.

“We are moving ahead and implementing our plans to improve standards of literacy and numeracy across the board, with a new child development assessment profile for use in the Foundation Phase in place from this term, which will provide a baseline of each child’s development needs when they first enter the Foundation Phase. It will be used to inform future learning needs and plan a learning programme for each child and will enable teachers to measure children’s progress.

“We are also pressing ahead with plans to introduce a national reading test designed to ensure far fewer pupils are falling behind and a statutory National Literacy Framework, setting out the progress in literacy we expect all pupils aged five to 15 to make year on year.”